Desktop Waterjet Cutter

WAZER is the world’s first affordable digital tool that cuts through virtually any material. While industrial waterjet cutters have existed for decades, their significant size and cost have made them inaccessible to individual makers, small businesses and educational institutions. Recent years have seen a revolution in consumer 3D printers, laser cutters and CNC milling machines, but they are limited to work with relatively soft materials. WAZER on the other hand can cut through tough materials like stainless steel, titanium, glass, ceramic, stone and carbon fibre composites. This opens up unparalleled possibilities to easily prototype and batch manufacture things that perform like industrially produced parts.

Working alongside the WAZER team on a complete ground-up engineering effort, the design of the machine was heavily constrained by performance, size, cost and manufacturing criteria. Much of the industrial design work was focused on creating a simple and intelligible user experience, contained in a compact, robust and elegant package.

This was achieved by suspending the water tank and gantry between two aluminium extrusion frames, giving the machine a visually lighter appearance. The transparent side windows and hood offer great visibility and access to the cutting bed, while preventing any splashing during the cutting process. In order to achieve a convenient benchtop form factor, the main water pump and electric motor is housed in a separate unit, which can be placed on the floor and connected with a high pressure water hose and electric cable. Further design and user considerations were aimed at facilitating the filling and removal of cutting abrasive (the fine sand mixed in with the pressurised water), as well as creating an integrated interface for the machine controls and proprietary computer cutting software.

As part of the post-assembly quality control, each machine cuts its own stainless steel WAZER logo badge, which is then mounted on the machine as a testament to its capability.

This design project was carried out in close collaboration with WAZER, a start-up from New York City, and the HAX hardware accelerator programme. The WAZER waterjet cutter successfully launched on Kickstarter and raised more than US$ 1.3 million in presales for the North American market alone.